THE WAPITI. 183 



to themselves during the late winter, the 

 spring, and the summer. Vast herds are thus 

 sometimes formed, containing, in the old days 

 when wapiti were plenty, thousands of head. 

 The bulls now begin to fight furiously with 

 one another, and the great herd becomes split 

 into smaller ones. Each of these has one 

 master bull, who has won his position by 

 savage battle, and keeps it by overcoming 

 every rival, whether a solitary bull, or the 

 lord of another harem, who challenges him. 

 When not fighting or love-making he is kept 

 on the run, chasing away the young bulls who 

 venture to pay court to the cows. He has 

 hardly time to eat or sleep, and soon becomes 

 gaunt and worn to a degree. At the close of 

 the rut many of the bulls become so emaciated 

 that they retire to some secluded spot to re- 

 cuperate. They are so weak that they readily 

 succumb to the elements, or to their brute 

 foes ; many die from sheer exhaustion. 



The battles between the bulls rarely result 

 fatally. After a longer or shorter period of 

 charging, pushing, and struggling the heavier 

 or more enduring of the two begins to shove 

 his weaker antagonist back and round ; and 

 the latter then watches his chance and bolts, 

 hotly, but as a rule harmlessly, pursued for a 

 few hundred yards. The massive branching 

 antlers serve as effective guards against the 

 most wicked thrusts. While the antagonists 

 are head on, the worst that can happen is a 

 punch on the shoulder which will not break 

 the thick hide, though it may bruise the flesh 

 underneath. It is only when a beast is caught 

 while turning that there is a chance to deliver 



